368 



BECOMPOSltlON Or ST LPIIUK. 



not precipitated I tried After war 3 whether acids would rSrecijiitate sulphur 

 y aci s > from it, but even the oximuriatic scarcely rendered it fur* 



bid. They only evolved from it a peculiar smell, insup- 

 portabiy fetid. However as the nature of the solution in- 

 dicated the presence of sulphur, I was willing to ascertain, 

 but blue with whether it contained any. With ihis view 1 let fall into it 

 sulphate of a j^ drops of a solution of sulphate of iron at a maximum 

 of oxidation, which immediately occasioned a black pre- 

 cipitate, that was speedily changed to blue by an additional 

 quantity of the solution of the sulphate. 



From these different experiments, and particularly from 



the property of the solution, I no longer doubted, that the 



sulphur had entered into combination with the nitrogen t 



and formed a compound analogous to the prussic radical. 



Having afterward examined, what action sulphuric acid 



The sulphur 

 had formed a 

 compound 

 tttfalognus to 

 tho ; i ussic ra- 

 dical. 

 Sulphuric acid 



with nitrous sa.tura.ted with nitrous eas would have on this solution, I 



gas precipitated ° ' 



sulphur. remarked, that this acid produced a copious yellow preci- 



pitate in it, which to the eye had all the appearance of 

 sulphur, and emitted a similar smell when thrown on live 

 coals. This solution, like those before examined with 

 acids, contained the prussic radical ; and the precipitate 

 here mentioned was nothing but this radical, which at the 

 moment of its formation might be converted into Prussian 

 blue by combining it with a few drops of solution of sul- 

 phate of iron. 



This" substance"'. This compound then clearly indicates a substance ana- 



analogous to 

 the prussic ra- 

 dical. 



Its fixedness. 



Is carbon or 

 Kidrogtn pre- 



logous to the prussic radical, but differing from it in being 

 more fixed, since the strongest acids do not separate it 

 from its solution, while all of them readily decompose the 

 prussiate of potash. Were this the only property, that 

 characterised the radical of w r hich I am speaking, it would 

 bo sutlicient, to distinguish it from the prussic. 



With regard to the great degree of fixedness of this new 

 radical, it may be ascribed to the hidrogen, the condensa- 

 tion of which appears to be as strong in this compound, as 

 it is in sulphur; a condensation however, which nitrogen, 

 can diminish in forming ammonia with the hidrogeu by the 

 decomposition of prussiate of iron. 



As to the question, whether carbon or hidrogen be the 

 predominent principle in sulphur, it is obvious, that the 



process 



